Yes, All White People Raised in America are Racist.

We are all ingrained with racism and anti-blackness from the time we are babies. While I will not, in my white ass opinion ass opinion, deny that other races are ingrained with this as well, I will not speak about that as it is not my right to do so. I am here today to discuss how all white people raised in America are racist.

Yes, it is a blanket statement or generalization. No, I’m not going to change that.

White people think as individuals. Overwhelmingly, we think this way and that is problematic when trying to conquer racism. We think, “Well -I’m- not racist, I don’t say the N-word and I don’t like the KKK” and that we are then exempt from racism and we can sit back and say that racism does not exist anymore because “myself” and “my friends” also don’t use that word or like the KKK.” In doing that, we are disturbingly wrong and atrociously continuing the myth that those two requirements are the only requirements for not involving ourselves in racism and for not continuing our racial history. If you think this way, you are wrong. You still are ingrained with very subtle, very casual racism that you are still capable of displaying and exhibiting.

Here’s what happened: During the era of Jim Crow, we whites were running around, calling black people “colored” and lynching black people, pouring acid in swimming pools of black people and burning down black communities. It was a time of very outward, blatant racism that we displayed and yes, I say -we. This is -our- history of racial terror in the United States. Us. Ours. Our grandparents, grand aunts, uncles, cousins, etc all had a hand in that. Go further up a generation as well, to your great ancestors. I don’t care. Bottom line is, if your family lived here before 1960, they lived here under Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws took place between 1870 and 1960. Yes, almost a damn century of that fuckery. There is no way to trace your ancestry to see if your family had any partaking in Jim Crow. Since you’d have to trace each individual member of your family and likely, if they did commit any lynchings under Jim Crow, there would be no record anyways because the law stated they were right in doing so. It’s safe to assume, however, that at least one (although, likely more) of your family members attended a lynching, saw one, heard about one, etc and did nothing to stop it and furthermore, did nothing to change the laws. It follows that your family believed that the laws of the time, stating that black people were 3/5ths human, were all right, fine and dandy. This ideology does not just go away over time. It was handed down.

For most of us, it seems it was watered down substantially. No longer were our family members all in agreement that black people were less human than us. There was a shift in how they said it, and how it was demonstrated. We started utilizing other tactics, such as erasure. You had numerous white families start telling themselves and their children that it is better to just not see race at all. White families started raising their children under this ideology. It is not a good ideology for a variety of reasons. First, you have the erasure of other people’s culture that comes along with it. If you do not see race, you will not see their culture. You then expect everyone to follow -yours-. It is just another manifestation of white supremacy. If you’re not seeing race, how are you seeing your own and why are you thinking all of your “culture” and “traditions” are the default? This attempt to sweep racism under the rug actually only furthered it.

White families started telling each other that white supremacists wear white hoods, and that as long as you’re not wearing a hood, or associating with Uncle Brad who does wear one, you’re not a white supremacist or supporting white supremacy. This set in white minds a new standard and idea of what it means to be racist or have any hand in racism and white supremacy. These thoughts and ideas are still rampant today. My generation is hell bent that if they have 2 black friends, had at least 3 black people attend their school, don’t wear white hoods and don’t talk about race, that they are not racist at all. That is not the case. If anything, it makes you racist and hypocritical. You “don’t see race” until you bring up your “black friends”? Really?

We think on such an individual level that it is dangerous, and moronic. Yeah, I said it. We are the only race in America with the luxury of being treated by our system as individuals. We are the only race in America that is separated by class. It’s very clear during election time. You hear about “the black vote” the “latino vote” but not the white vote because the white vote is not only the default, but the only one divided by class. “Middle class” “lower class”.

If those classes included other races, we wouldn’t need to talk about the “black vote” or the “latino vote”.

It is very clear that when race goes unmentioned, it is because the race we’re talking about is the white race, which is the default race in our country.

So, yes. All white people raised in America are instilled with this idea that we are the default, we are the go-to, we are the norm. That, my friends, is upholding white supremacy. Every time we say “I don’t see race”, we are contributing to white supremacy, as well as willful blindness to racism.

We see it everywhere, as well. We as white people are largely represented, in ads, on TV, in movies, in history books, in our communities, as well as in our government, and as well as in businesses. Other races are exposed to this as well. The difference?

For white people, it doesn’t stop when we get home. Growing up, if I was at a black friend’s house they were exposed to black literature, black TV, music… all these things that could counteract all of the whiteness they had to deal with at school. When I took myself to my white friends’ homes? The opposite. Just a continuation of whiteness at home.

There’s an exception to -every- rule, yes. I see why you don’t want me to use my blanket statement of “all white people raised in America are racist.” Blanket terms can be scary. I use this specific phrase because it is accurate. Every white person is raised this way. We have varying degrees. In example, my mother also embraced black TV, movies, literature, and did not shield us from learning our real history of racial terror. However, I still came out of there saying “I didn’t own slaves!,” as though that exempted me from our racial history. I still locked car doors when black people walked by, even though my mother had taken me down to Chicora-Cherokee to walk around to learn that black people were not inherently dangerous (likely because she also told me “better safe than sorry”).

I also:

– Have said “I’m not racist” and even “I’m not racist, BUT”
– Used to make “house negro” jokes with my family
– Used to say things like “you’re not -really- black, though!”
– Have said “My family never owned slaves!” “We were slaves”

I’ve even reached my mayo colored hand out and touched black people’s hair- as recently as last year.

I’ve also examined all of that, took the claps to my face, shut up and -listened- to what was actually being said to me. I dropped my defense and woke up. All white people raised in America are racist.

Having woken up does not make me better than anyone. I should’ve been awake to it, but I wasn’t. It shouldn’t have taken me some 27 years of my life, being told what I’ve been told, seen what I’ve seen, exposed to what I’ve been exposed to, to see the truth of this country, my white history, the racism in even my own words and in-actions, and to see the role I was playing in continuing the problem. It did, because we’re so ingrained and indoctrinated with it that it takes a lot for us to see it. All white people raised in America are racist.

Furthermore, because of this heavy indoctrination, it is never going to be over. We will have to continue to check ourselves everyday, with every word we speak and every thing we expose our children to, to ensure we are not continuing this saga anymore.

I’m not perfect. I’m still going to swerve and am still capable of displaying the ingrained racism that has been instilled in me my whole life. This is the key to why I will no longer say “I’m not racist.” We have to commit ourselves to -listening- when we are called out on our mistakes, and solemnly swear to not let ourselves repeat those same mistakes, because those mistakes can cause lives to be lost through so many different ways. Those same mistakes can hurt the very people that we claim we care about. It’s not about doing what might gain you friends, what might get you pats on the back or about being commended. It’s about stopping all of this now so that children can stop losing their lives and so that children don’t lose their friends to racial disparities and racism. It’s so that women and men today can make ends meet and take care of themselves and theirs. It’s so that the people can live in peace and have any shot at prosperity.

THAT is what it is about and in order to do that, we white people need to shut up, look at ourselves with utter honesty and brutal examination so that we can check ourselves, check each other and get to work uplifting our black sisters and brothers on their journey and fight for liberation, instead of continuing to stand in their way and hold them back.

All white people raised in America are racist.

We have two options:

– Ignore all of it and continue perpetuating the problems
or
– See it exactly how it is, fight against it and
STAND UP TO IT

Sitting by repeating “I’m not racist” does nothing to change racism, so why are you still sitting?

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>White people think as individuals. Overwhelmingly, we think this way and that is problematic when trying to conquer racism.

Are you saying other races don’t think as individuals?

Tony Thompson

The author is not talking about other races. They are talking about white people.

thenamelessone123

so clearly the author figures she cant possibly understand what you all think because she barely registers minorities as human beings, very much like the other seven billion people on this planet who by in large think very much like everyone else, remember that the author says that clearly other races have this same problem, but she cant talk about them, because clearly they couldnt possibly think like her, shes educated and white, did you ever wonder why the left wants people divided?

Colin Allman

>It is very clear that when race goes unmentioned, it is because the race we’re talking about is the white race, which is the default race in our country.

You never mention the higher income, lower crime, asian culture of our country.

Tony Thompson

Because that’s not relevant. White (along with male, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, and christian) is the default in this county. That is seem as the norm. Every other race is judged against the norm.

Dark_Space

You sound racist. At my house we have a healthy Japanese mix.

thenamelessone123

you say that like its a real thing, but i dont think you know what youre talking about, nobody thinks all of America must be Captain America, and if you think thats what the rest of the world thinks maybe you have the problem, same if thats just the way you think

Tony Thompson

Yes, all white people are racist. Your definition of racism is far too limited in scope. When you are born and bred in a country where white supremacy permeates the culture (and has since its inception), and you are part of the dominant racial group, you’re going to pick up subtle racist beliefs. It’s sociology and psychology. These things are understood by the relevant authorities and by those of us who have educated ourselves on the subject. And some of the people with the most deep seated racist beliefs are those that deny they have them. You really ought to take the Implicit Racial Bias Test. It’s available for free online.

Jezzer

Shut the fuck up, Tony.

singingsoprano

What a cogent response. Really thoughtful. Good point. Denial much?

Alex

Hmmm. I’m white and I have a preference for black people according to the Implicit Racial Bias test. So according to this article, I’m a racist who likes black people more than white people. Yup. Makes sense to me.

JPHALL

That is the point. No one knows the extent of the racist programming we all have had. Why is it that few non Whites are mentioned in American history?

LaLa

I found and took the ridiculous test, per your advice. What a waste of time. I took it twice, answering all questions honestly and consistently. The first part of the test was the variable (clicking certain buttons when pictures or words appear on the screen as fast as possible). The first time I took the test it told me i have a “strong” preference for African Americans and the second time I took the test it told me I have a “strong” preference towards European Americans. Ok….lol
Truth is, I have a strong preference for people I think are cool and fun and respectable. I really don’t give a damn what their ethnic background is. Literally don’t give a shit.

thenamelessone123

this seems to be the biggest problem these people have, we dont care about race, because it doesnt come up in our daily lives, and who cares if someone thinks your a racist either, they will always think that, you may as well own that fact, own the fact that in their eyes you will always be a racist, and dont do anything to help because nothing can be done

Abdul Osman

Have you ever dated a black man. Probably not.

olivia grant

Yes, I have, But he would never play the “poor” me card. He has a great education. good job and more importantly, he was a great guy.

verdulo1

What if you are half white? Are you then half racist, or does the non-white blood eliminate the racism? What if you are 1/8 non-white?

Jessicka Chamberlin

It depends… There are plenty of prejudiced people of all races, even towards their own “race”. For instance, free black men owned slaves in the south. “Colorism” or “the paper bag test” is white racism that was adopted and internalized into black culture. One of the most commonly sold cosmetic product all the world over are skin bleaching creams.

The whole point that the author is making is that we are blinded by racial conditioning and to protest by stating one’s racial blindness is to remain complicit in the lies that perpetuate the collective pysychosis that is racism.

The task for all humans is to remain vigilant and responsible to your preconceptions and seeing where you are walking your mind off to seeing ANYONE as a whole person. Any cultural and racial bias is still hatred no matter how subtle and insidious it is.

Dark_Space

What if you’re from Africa and your ancestors owned one of the 1.25mm white slaves that were taken by force from European countries and the UK? Three times the number of black slaves taken from Africa to the present-day US.

Kahleem Poole-Tejada

What if you’re spreading falsifications in order to marginalize an actual struggle?

thenamelessone123

a question you wont know how to answer because you have never considered this, what if hes not spreading false information? what if what hes talking about is true and well documented as fact?

LusciousDC

Then he needs to ask those questions to the people in Africa. We’re talking about America. This is the type of “but what about” the author was talking about. IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU

Abdul Osman

That’s what most Caucasians can’t stand. That it’s not all about them. They hate when they are not in the limelight or spotlight. All the damn time na-meen.

olivia grant

Yep, that’s it Abdul. Maybe, we just are sick of listening to you whine. You want respect yet you don’t respect yourselves. Some of it is truly cringe worthy.I was a slave! No, I am a queen/king! We don’t need anything from the white man! Where’s my money! etc etc ad nauseam rinse and repeat. LOL

Erin Kavanaugh

Olivia – it is a culture of delayed economic mobility that caused what you see today (BUT it was created by white people). After years of slavery and building America’s economy through free labor, blacks were released from slavery. But when blacks were slaves they at least had food, water, and shelter. After slavery, blacks worked the same jobs except in exchange for little to no pay and was not enough to survive on, let alone provide for a family. Meanwhile, whites who performed the same job were paid an actual wage. This continued, as you know, through history where blacks had to struggle to find any work available to feed themselves, their families, etc. Even if you were more qualified for a job, it was given to a white person. Heck, blacks were’t even able to vote for people to represent them until they gained voting rights in 1965. Before, blacks were considered 3/5 of a person in legislative representation (Yes, they actually came up with a fraction to deem how much of a human blacks were allowed to be).

So this is where your statement becomes mute and terribly incorrect – black or brown people are NOT intrinsically bad or people who don’t “respect [them]selves]”. For example, people who are white passing (biracial people who display physical traits of whites to the point where they appear 100% white) do not deal with people crossing the street or hiding away when they are around. They do not get denied a job because of their race. Unless they tell people their background, they are considered 100% white, despite being black. Throughout history, that has been the benefit of white privilege for white passing people. As long as you LOOK white you get the benefits of it.

My point is – poverty and living in a society where people hate you for existing has it’s bad affects on the disenfranchised people. It goes hand and hand with everything you’ve defined as cringe worthy. But that cultural mindset, and economic constraints were built and upheld by white people.

So white people created a disparity and held back opportunities throughout history, not just for fair wages but voting and now you’re blaming blacks for not respecting themselves? They did it to themselves, despite the fact that the genome indicates their is no difference between you and them? That’s pretty dumb. I’m glad those idiots step aside or hide away when they’re walking down the streets. It makes it easier to spot out the profoundly idiotic people around us.

So apparently, even though race is just a skin color, blacks are ALL whining? It’s not a coincidence that since they’ve been through the same hardships that some of their complaints warrant any merit? I’m sorry, but you just gave yourself away with that line. There are people working hard and respecting themselves everyday, that’s not going to make the racists go away. The last lynching happened only 48 years ago. Those people taught their children, to teach their children to be racist. It’s like a disease that just won’t go away. I think THAT’s pretty cringe-worthy. At least white lives aren’t affected on a daily basis. If you want to stop listening to whining all you have to do is shut your ears and turn the other cheek. But a black person can never stop being black.

olivia grant

Wow, thanks for the history lesson. Key word there is history, atrocities have happened to millions. The worst atrocity is teaching children that there is this big scary monster (the white man) who will hold you down from achieving anything. Oh btw my dad is Native American – does that make your opinion null and void? Idiot.

Evan VanHoy

Do you even listen to 90% of rap music?

thenamelessone123

a lot of those people are all over the world now, this is a bit of a history lesson, but long before we rediscovered America the Slavic people were entirely turned to slaves, actually bringing about the term slaves, and many of those people were in Africa back before the population ever moved in some meaningful way, so in fact even if you could trace your family history back to when you left Africa and know for certain nobody in your family owned slaves (its certainly not impossible for them to have gotten and owned slaves, freed slaves a lot became big slave owners), you still cant say this is not something you have no connection to, because you likely do

Julian Rai

Most of this goes back to one of two books, post 1993, and much has which had been debunked or greatly blown out of context.

I personally have part Irish ancestry, and can trace it back to the 1550’s. Not a single Irish slave. Same goes for everyone else in my family. Just seriously, for a moment, stop repeating what you read in some meme on Facebook (complete with a photo of child laborers in the early 1900’s and a caption with distortions from a book written by a holocaust denier, based on a legitimate book from the early 1900’s severely and maybe kind of intentionally taken out of context), and just look it up.

It a not a thing, although a great many indentured servants did exist. And yah, there was a two year period where one wealthy landowner took the poor from Ireland and England (off the streets and out of people’s homes!) and shipped them off to the states using thugs, more or less. And that, we’d love to forget. And that writ got revoked after many complaints (those taken were still made to serve, though); but all of them were released after 7 years or so. Their kids weren’t subject. They could sue. And *win*. And theb afterwards, eventually, be inducted into society. Change of name, no accent, and who knows where you’re from? And even not necessary: there are tons, just literally tons of Irish names as plantation owners in the south. They’re still *there*! Legacies. They didn’t necessarily go anywhere. Citing a couple of African slave holders doesn’t quite do the trick, though. They did exist. But you can’t track down hundreds of land owning african slaveholders. Dozens, maybe. Localized to a few areas, and made illegal eventually. And just as crappy, honestly. And I mean, unless you want to show me their legacies. Many of those plantations have their families have a legacy in the South. Where are they?

You have to understand that, the underlying theme of that meme, and even those two books (White Cargo, and the stormfront members that love it so much), is essentially what she’s saying here. You’re making her point for her.

The point is supposed to be about furthering ideas of racial inferiority. “Look, we had it bad, if not worse. I saw the meme. And we, the Irish got over it. Do you see us complaining?” And the subtext is “no, because we’re white”. That’s the problem there.

Technically speaking, you’re bitching about it right now. But that aside, again, stop just quoting memes you find on the Internets. If you’re going to stand behind it, quote it, spread it; don’t do it irresponsibly. Take actual responsibility, and research it yourself. And I’m talking *pre* “They were white and they were slaves”. Find the sources they were supposedly citing in those books. If you do that, you’ll inevitably realize that their pulling of the sources doesn’t really line up often with those sources. Because those sources can be found, too. And worse, it kind of makes you think:

Did the author do that on purpose? Was it intentional?

When the *first time* the meme with the three young girls taken outside in a field was created, on someone’s computer … he had to rip that right out of Lewis Hines’ collection of anti child labor photographs from 1911 to 1913. *Intentionally*. (Those are three textile workers in 1913 in Port Royal; their names were Josie, Bertha, and Sophie … Lewis Hines worked with the US government and other groups and charities in the fight to end child labor in the US.) And then that person had to go back *300 years* to quote something called “The Ramonstrance of Irish Chiefs to Pope John XXII” to get the “Irish no better than dogs” quote. And that was a thing back in *Ireland*, in 1310ish, trying to make a claim to the pope that Irish princes be allowed to rule as Robert the Bruce had up in Scotland. Someone took that quote and misused it *on purpose*, at least the first time.

And that same someone probably used a bunch of Hines’ photos, like the six kids with sacks on their backs (Texas farm, 1913, only one Irish; all poor, though. Just stupid child labor, and part of the propaganda campaign to work to outlaw it at the time). Or the coal mining picture (same thing, actually child workers, South Pittston, PA, 1911).

But it doesn’t stop there. There’s that emaciated guy that’s actually a union soldier rescued from Antietam. There’s the four dudes in chains that’s actually a photo of Putamayo Indians. Which sucks on a couple of levels. There’s one photo from 1920s Delaware that’s actually a black guy being whipped on a post. That one already has history (it was one of those postcards, like for lynchings, that Delaware made for a time … there are a series of these). There’s the four emaciated tall guys and the one shirt guy that’s actually a WWII POW pic. There’s ironically the one of about nine men, half sitting, that are actually *mixed race* guys from Barbados (they were part of a subculture called the “Redlegs”); all of which can be accounted for in *present* families, and only one of which has any Irish ancestry at all … but none have Irish surnames.

But somebody, the first time, had to go find these pictures, lift them from their *original content*, add an extra zero or two from their sources, misquote clearly legible print from a source that *still* exists to this day, and do all that on purpose.

And you have to ask yourself, “why would they do that?” They knew what they were doing when they found that old photograph of mulatto children from that old abolitionist group. You know, the one about how, because of the “one drop rule” thousands of essentially “white” children were slaves in the south … where they were trying to garner northern sentiment against slavery? You know, the one with the one kid standing draped in a flag? Yeah that one. Someone had to find that old ad, *lift* it from its original context, add text that they *know* isn’t exactly what was printed, and then upload it to Facebook.

Your biggest question should be why would someone do that?

thenamelessone123

we arent talking about the Irish people here, were talking about all the members of Europe and the UK, like the Slavic people, for which the term slave actually comes from, because all of the Slavic people were turned into slaves in Africa long before the Americas were rediscovered, or the other just random numbers of people that came from there, it doesnt always have to be America that the problem starts, or ends

” For instance, free black men owned slaves in the south” For the record the majority of Blacks who actually owned slaves became owners because their family. Husbands bought wives, children bought their parents. It was the only path to freedom.

Rhan Tegoth

Then you are HALF-racist. :-p

Anonymous

Oh look, a clickbait hot take. Your mother must be so proud.

Jessicka Chamberlin

I agree with every word. Thank you so much for posting your heartfelt and honest thoughts. My whole life I’ve been attempting, with various degrees of success, to have similar conversations with every white folk I have ever loved. I’ve often been met with comments from some friends, who I’ve known for YEARS as sensitive, creative, articulate, and open, who dumbfounded me with their willfull ignorance about their privilege. It’s shocking when you start to see how deep it goes… In yourself. In your family. In the white folks you love. It happened as soon as last week. “Drop the white man’s burden” I was told.

For me, it started with reading Toni Morrison, then James Baldwin, then taking on my father and his insistence on using “slave lingo”. It’s an ongoing conversation. There are so many historical and current facts that are continually used to distort the conversation. So many protests of proof: “See, I’m using facts. I’m not racist.” It’s exhausting.

The only thing I would add to your truth offering to us, is the deeper truth that is slowly, and I do mean ACHINGLY slow, coming to the collective consciousness:

Race itself, as a biological categories, are absolutely 100% a fabrication. The genome projects are all verifying that it is completely impossible to divide humans into categories. If you line up humans based on hair color, eye shape, kind of hair, color of skin, etc, it’s only a smooth spectrum of gradation.

The idea of race as a biological truth was created in the 16th century (the era is disputed) to make a case for the subjugation of others. It’s the process known as “othering” made institutional.

I see the collective burden of racism as a collective societal psychosis – even a sociopathic impulse – that we have yet to heal. And we are all required to work together to heal it, within ourselves, within our families, and our communities.

But here’s where it gets sticky to me…

Here we are, hundreds of years further on, STILL perpetuating that same lie…

The bigger question for me is:

How do we honor the pain and the beauty and the disgrace and the dignity that has come from the lie, while still speaking the plain truth that a lie is a lie is a lie?

The immense suffering that has occurred that keeps occurring because of this lie strikes me with sheer awe tinged terror every single day of my life.

Nudennie Dre White

What sucks is like, when you’re with your family and friends walking down downtown after having just had dinner and laughing it up and you lock eyes with a lady getting out of her car on the sidewalk and she double checks to lock her car door after looking at you. What sucks is that you have to not get upset and depressed about it and keep trying to have a great time with your family and friends. Cause it hurts ya know?

Sometimes I wonder do you guys really see us as mini Godzillas running around waiting to hurt kill and destroy your existance? If not why do the police shoot? do their tazers no longer work on Godzilla? better to not take the risk? why does the male suddenly hug the female as if I’m trying to snatch her away and devour her when I walk by? sometimes it really sucks, but most of the time I try not to think about it and smile and just be myself… but its hard.

Abdul Osman

It’s because most Caucasian people are inherently scared to death of us black people. Because of past injustices and, atrocities that they ancestors have committed on us black people. Within ancient olden slavery day’s. So they survive from post-traumatic-slave-master-syndrome. Because back in ancient olden slavery day’s Caucasians were allowed to do us black people any ole kind of way. So therefore most Caucasians have nostalgia from those racist turbulent time’s. You feel me. Na-meen. And besides that the only time the world had been integrated between whites and blacks was during slavery time’s. And even then Caucasians only kept black people amongst them for the sole purpose of manipulating us and, capitalizing off of us. That’s all na-meen. Don’t be fooled.

dante

Your Weakness is beyond evident & is that Fear I guess which manifests itself in this lost cause of humanitarian efforts that you, yourself & your selfishness, par excellence has caused & that you are! (that is not a good thing. to simplify for a suitable audience)
Keep it up & I won’t need to say anything… for as a wise man once sang…
(a ‘Cohen’ actually):

‘Everybody Knows’

dante

Decipher the code strongman!

Julian Rai

Nudennie;

That’s exactly how it is. Walking down a hallway in your building and finding yourself alone with a girl who crosses the hallways and even scrunches up against the wall for moment as she does so. The dude walking his dog that thinks it’s his duty to check and make sure it’s *your* car you’re rifling through. And yah, the weird belief that you’re going to consume every European American woman you come across. God forbid you might even think she’s pretty, actually. It’s assumed that you’re some hypersexual, super dominant, black thing that’s going to envelop them. Men around them can get protective that you looked at them. Douchey men, at that. Or, sometimes worse, they actually expect that of you and *want* that. Even more confusing.

And you’re right; you’ve got to always second guess yourself. Is it me? Did I do something? Maybe I did something? Go on about your day, and yes, sometimes fight off depression and a constant rejection that you wouldn’t have to face otherwise. It’s very true.

thenamelessone123

so currently 13% of the population commits more than 50% of all the murders in the U.S. and its the black 13%, while i get that a lot of those numbers come from Chicago, or other cities like that, where 64 people murdered in a weekend is like saying water=wet, of from other areas of high gang activity, and i know that poverty has an effect on these numbers much more then race, trust me, i understand all of that, i come from the depression state, none of this makes me feel anything, but that is likely to be the reason why, between the unequal amounts of poverty among minorities, as well as gang areas and murder capitals the numbers are thrown totally out of wack, but thats the reason, because you might be harmless, but statistics say youre not

Alice Bayly

I lock my car door if anyone I don’t know walks past, unless they have children with them.

Mark Walker

Please don’t believe this drivel. It’s nonsense.

dante

Please read my essay, “A Czech-American’s…” it is quite long & I should probably condense it down a bit for the modern day’s poor reading attention-span…but the main argument is, a true skeleton key: “this is why I would say ‘racism’ does not exist.
Because it is my choice.
Period.
One shouldn’t need to have to answer beyond this.” And if you are implied by any that you should, then just look at them & look at you. And ask them how can their anti-humanity not exist!?”
It is only a mere world view, madame!

I have a worldview. It is called ‘anti-Blondeism’. For we are the only ones who are endangered to going extinct as the natural German-Celt-Slav mix of the most rare in occurrence & a true rarity among billions of others. How can a person with recessive genes be a dominant person!? Haha. It is not to their true person if they are, & if so, they are the exception. Not the rule.

marilyn

Sounds like the writer had a pretty rascist family. I’ll readily admit that I know nothing about my ancestors but the detailed list of personal recent rascist acts?! Wtf. I don’t remember in my life being taught by my family not to “see” race. It was there. I knew history. My parents talked to me. We didn’t lock our doors when a black person walked by. Black people are humans. White people are humans. Every race has its own history. We’re different but everyone’s different and that’s what makes life beautiful. Stand up for your brothers and your sisters. The world is an ugly place, but some of us don’t feel hate in our hearts and never have. Peace isn’t possible if you believe it isn’t natural.

Abdul Osman

Read some slavery books about black people. Then you will find out about all of the atrocities that ya ancestors have committed amongst black people.

Ellen

That’s not the point Abdul. We know about the atrocities and feel deeply deeply ashamed and sorry. I personally try and reach out in my own life to other races and try and do whatever I can to make things better for everyone.

jon

Not all white people have had slaves.

The 3ngineer

This is the sound of a point being missed. “I’m not actively racist myself” is exactly the message of white supremacy being talked about here.

“Not all white people owned slaves” doesn’t change that many did and in either case, they lived under laws designed to keep non-whites subjugated.

“I know about the atrocities” doesn’t change the still waving banner under which they were committed.

“Every race has its history” doesn’t change the still present, tangible effects of one race’s domination of the other and it’s perpetuation of such.

Seriously, it’s like you read the article and volunteered to be an object example.

jon

my white ancestors immigrated from eastern europe to escape opression and being literally hunted. they were certainly poorer than most black families at the time, worked in coal mines in canada. my ancestors didn’t come to the US until the 70’s.

i don’t deny white priviledge, but everyone here is accepting an extremely narrow view of world hostory, and it’s getting ridiculous.

you’re personally attacking me for what now?

BrickCityBully

Read again. Your comment is one of the things the writer spoke about.

jon

How is my comment one of the things the writer spoke about? It’s a 5 paragraph-long comment that I made, explain to me how.

Evan VanHoy

The writer has a skewed view. Yours seems to be narrow as well.

warren kuhn

Wake up people , it’s the 1% of filthy rich who keep everyone in the racist tension , I’m white and poor , I work for a multi million dollar company and can’t afford health care for my wife that’s 500.00 a month extra. There’s plenty of all ethic groups poor like me .

BrickCityBully

You’re in denial.

Honestlab

I feel sorry for the author of this.
Feeling so trapped by the sins and wrongs (real or otherwise) of people whom she never will meet. Who lived and died years before she was born.

thenamelessone123

reminds me of original sin

Dark_Space

You don’t get passed down the ideologies of your ancestors – what a bizarre thought. I don’t even vote for the same political parties as my parents and we get along great, and I certainly am not a racist because my grandfather didn’t walk with MLK Jr at Selma.

Malphius – Vury Scurry Bear

FK off you crazy BTCH. Insane loons like this author need to go play in traffic until they improve the status of the human race.

soaboutthat

HAHAHA. What solipsistic bullshit. The reasons that POC are even mentioned as groups is because the left needs divide them up and extend particular rights to special groups as opposed to individuals across the board. GTFOOH with this bullshit.

Mark Heinz

I would say perhaps all white people raised in the American South have a greater chance of facing an uphill battle against ingrained racism toward blacks. But the argument that seeing people first and foremost as humans, and not this or that “race” is racism (at least if a white person does it), is stupid. I’m weary of folks suffering from massive guilt trips over their own apparent deep seated racism trying to project that on every other white person. Look, when I say that I really don’t care a damn about another human being’s skin pigmentation, that’s exactly what I mean. Accept that, and move on.

Luís Guilherme

Actually nican tlaca folks (who often dislike the connotations the adjective ‘Native’ brings) tend to think they’re in a state of statelessness because some people stole their land, culture, riches and way of life, and all of this should be given back. Implying that all settler states currently over the entirety of the Americas should be extinguished, and people who aren’t useful for Indigenous decolonization removed to someplace else.

thenamelessone123

so this lingering systemic racism you speak of, basically means that we dont get shit on in like four ways by life, we get to be shit on in different ways, life sucks for everybody man, get over it, everybody just get over it

Kahleem Poole-Tejada

Yet its alright perfectly when White corp America appoints Al Sharpton as some sort of “voice” for Black Americans, right?

Doesn’t feel too good, does it?

Jezzer

Feel free to comb through my profile and find ONE goddamn comment where I bring up Al Sharpton and endorse him. Putting words in someone else’s mouth is just a way of saying, “Hey, I don’t actually have an argument here, so I’ll make one up.”

Kahleem Poole-Tejada

Bigger picture, genius. Clearly I’m referencing the normal habits of white society and their need to label anything and everything.

Sharpton is the example “GIVEN” to us as a media face, despite our continuous protest, and is a normal staple out of white mouths on black societies. Yet here and now you sit and complain of being labeled as a group via one representative.

I’m assuming you have the cognitive ability to recognize the cultural irony here. Assuming, anyway.

Kykid

Speaking as a poor white man you do not see that we are on the same side. And that’s what it sad. We were neighbors went to the same crappy public school and dealt with the same crappy police force. But when Black America feels it so he’s disenfranchised and the odds were stacked against him. On the other hand his white counterpart that lives in the same crappy housing project fails to succeed and it’s all you’ve squandered your chances and you’re lazy. If people could only see it’s a class issue and not a race issue. #rich or poor

Nudennie Dre White

Kykid, we’re on the same side yet you still treat us like subhumans? We’re on the same side but when you see one of us walking down the street do you think “i should give that person a ride” before “I wonder what he’s up to”. We’re on the same side yet you call the police when we’re in your neighborhood. We’re on the same side yet you didn’t make a stand when your neighborhood literally said “blacks can’t live in our community”. We’re on the same side yet you dont give a fuck about when we are denied employment at banks because of our color.

I’ll make this real simple. If we’re on the same side, then obviously if you were to be born into a new life, You’d just as likely chose to be born a black man as you would a white man right? Cause its the same side?

Abdul Osman

I’m from New York City. Although I dress casual as hell. I still got to find myself crossing the street. Whenever I find myself walking the same path if a white female. Because they basically think that they own the world. So if you are a black man. Walking the same length as them. They are going to swear up and down that you are somehow out to harm them. And what not.

olivia grant

Do you realize how pathetic you sound? Maybe that’s the prob. Real men don’t behave like victims.

Alice Bayly

That is a very close minded blanket statement. White females “basically think that they own the world” you may have had misunderstandings with white females but that does not mean every single one you meet is exactly the same and the ones you have met.

Joshua Thurston

Actually I think it would be pretty cool to be either or. It’s amazing to experience different cultures and ways of life even if they are so close together. Everyone faces struggles and everyone has problems but imagine how much we could get if we could switch places for awhile. The understanding of the world would change drastically.

DT

Please please please take a writing class. The prose is just too choppy and difficult to read! I am trying to understand what you’re saying and jumping in and out of first, second and third person is not helping the cause. I don’t care what topic is being discussed here, this is not a sufficient way to editorialize.

singingsoprano

Writing style is personal. I liked it. Nice deflection though.

disqus_5IhZmGZsxY

What a ridiculous over-generalized strawman. Few educated white people in my Millennial generation think in the ways described here. We don’t claim to not be racist based on whether or not we have black friends. Not all of us ‘think as individuals’, either. This article is making generalized assumptions about a group of people based exclusively on their residence and their race, which is the very definition of racism.

JPHALL

Did you bother to read the author’s statements that these were generalizations? The point is to be conscious of what you are saying or doing.

Dean Logan

“Bottom line is, if your family lived here before 1960, they lived here under Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws took place between 1870 and 1960. Yes, almost a damn century of that fuckery. There is no way to trace your ancestry to see if your family had any partaking in Jim Crow. ”

Jim Crow laws were state and local level. So, everyone living outside of the south can trace their ancestry and possibly find that they were not partaking in Jim Crow laws. If the author had thought about it just for a moment, they would know that white people fought at the Federal level in order stop those laws. It was called the Civil Rights Act, if the authors still has no clue.

Also, not everyone owned slaves. Not all slaves were black. The first recorded slave owner was a black man. It is also possible to trace back your ancestry and find that your family never owned a slave, nor sold someone into slavery.

This article is stupid and just encourages more divisiveness.

thenamelessone123

so i know that in my ancestry there was people bought and sold as slaves, because i could trace my line back to before the arrival of the May Flower, the name change, and the founding of Salem, and they were nobility from Scotland, and before that slaves themselves

Susana Soto

Racism did not only occur in the South. You are correct that the author missed that Jim Crow was state sanctioned. However, racism towards Native Americans in the Midwest and Mexicans and Japanese and Chinese people on the Pacific coast was rampant. Our entire country’s history is founded on racist federal and state laws no matter where your family lived in this country. Denying history keeps us from moving forward as a nation. The Constitution is racist. Our state laws were racist. Let’s acknowledge and grow and move on. 🙂

Dean Logan

Please point out the racist law in the Constitution.

If you are talking about the census counting of slaves as 3/5th of a person, that had nothing to do with race, since not all slaves were black. That prevented slave owners from using slaves as way of getting more than one represented vote. Slavery existed around the entire world at the time of the American Revolution. And I repeat, blacks were not the only slaves and whites were not the only slave owners.

I see that you left out the Irish in your list.

Julian Rai

Hi Dean;

I hear you, but that paragraph before last deserves some attention, there. Mostly because those are direct quotes lifted from memes and tow possible other books, but clearly not researched. And then reciting them causes victimization, and even more divisiveness.

For instance, if we’re taking about “first American anything, I’m assuming we mean the 13 colonies”. Well, the deal between Johnson and Castor happened around 1655, and while that’s pretty early in slavery, slavery in the 13 colonies started around 1619. The image you see of him in memes is actually of an Abolitionist Lewis Hayden (think: no picture can exist of this guy from t 1609s). Johnson actually was an indentured, not a slave. A he difference is, he had a contract that expired, and afterwards, he got headrights (land, in this case … 250 acres, a lot of which came with the contract of *other* indentureds he bought, Irish, English, and African). Now, interestingly enough, the deal between Johnson and Casor, one of his indentureds that he bought the contract for 4 years prior, is such:

Casor ran away. He sued, stating that he’d been made indentured for more than 7 years. Not entirely true, actually. Johnson countered, and claimed he was a slave, and *not* an indentured, so had him for *life*. Also not true, obviously. The courts ruled in favor of Johnson, and for the first time transitioned Casor from indentured to slave. So that means Johnson now owned him permanently, as property now, as well and his children and his children’s children.

Now, that actually happened. Both were “negroes”, in this case. But the first legal slave was a man named John Punch, roughly 1640. African guy, originally indentured and converted to slave through a different lawsuit in VA. A lot of laws in many colonies created about slavery between the 1630s and then.

So Johnson / Casor wasn’t the first slave situation, first slave owner, or first legal slave owner. But some say it’s the first civil slave case, as well as the first known example of an African slaveholder. The first law legalizing slavery was roughly three years before Johnson even arrived here (1619, and 1621, respectively). So if John Punch (criminal case, punishment alongside a Dutchman and a Scotsman) was the first slave “legally” held from a court’s perspective, then Hugh Gwyn was the first legal owner, VA, ca 1640.

I think it’s also important to note that, after Johnson’s death in 1670, a court in Virginia ruled that because he was a “Negro, and by consequence an alien”, the land owned by Johnson rightfully belonged to the Crown, as since he was a Negro, he did not have the legal right to own property to begin with.

Dean Logan

I appreciate the clarification.

However, it doesn’t eliminate the stance that not all slave owners were white. If you want to go to slave ownership after the Revolution and before the Civil War, there are plenty of examples of slave owners who were free black men, who owned slaves beyond their own family.

The recorded event of a black man claiming rights to another as a slave is the point. The followup of the crown owning everything also points to the fact that slavery wasn’t created in the United States of America, but had already existed for centuries.

Slavery has never been owned completely by one race.

Julian Rai

Okay, so here’s one example of misused information and statistics.

Of course you’re totally right. It absolutely happened. I can’t vouch for how they were treated, etc, but owning slaves at the time in the South was a symbol of status, and of course, at times free Negroes would have had ambitions for the same. There are women that run brothels and participate in the sex slave trade. There are kids overlooking other kids in situations of child labor, aspiring to be bosses themselves, one day. There are women that were *all about* the burnings of other women during the European Witch Craze. It happens; it’s the complexity of life.

But let’s recap, here. Take websites like this one, one partially responsible for spreading this. In part, it comes across as legitimate, really. It has a bibliography. It almost reads as an academic paper.

But, in truth, it’s not quite what it seems. The bibliography mainly points to a few select works. One of which, for instance, is deliberately misquoted (as if we won’t do our own research). One statement attributes a quote to leading African American history historian John Hope Franklin. But this quote never really shows up in his actual work, “From Slavery to Freedom”, and when you read the source material, you find that these authors are just citing each other, and leaving out the context of what he *did* write, such as:

“The majority of Negro owners of slaves had some personal interest in their property.” But, he admits, “There were instances, however, in which free Negroes had a real economic interest in the institution of slavery and held slaves in order to improve their economic status.”

Also, of note, it offers up sources for only a few things. But notice how many claims it’s making in the article? A *lot*. Easily 90% of the claims aren’t sourced at all. But you’d overlook that, likely, as it seems authoritative enough. But if this were a true academic paper, with all of the quotes and numbers throughout this article, it’d be literally *peppered* with annotations, links, and numbers. It should have roughly three dozen source links, and it barely offers up ten.

As for the deliberate misquotes, let’s compare two sites with roughly the same info, for example (this one based their article on the first one, above):

Now, read them both. They both read as absolutely factual and authoritative. But notice how one cites the other, and increases and decreases the numbers:

AmericanCivilWar.Com: “According to federal census reports, on June 1, 1860 there were nearly 4.5 million Negroes in the United States, with fewer than four million of them living in the southern slaveholding states. Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves.”

SlaveRebellion.Org (clearly using the AmericanCivilWar.Com article as a source): “On the other hand the black population in 1860 was 4.5 million, with about 500,000 living in the South. Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves.”

Also, the latter brings up the “first slave” scenario, as well, which we both know is entirely inaccurate. But you wouldn’t know that by reading this. It comes with miquoted sources and everything. Again, assuming we won’t do our own research. Looks good, though. Also, that chart is questionable (especially from someone I just caught redhanded subtly decreasing the number of Negroes in the South to make it look like 89% of America’s Negro population were freely living in both the South and the North in 1860).

And that’s what we see a lot, here. The SlaveRebellion site does this quite a bit. And it’s obviously an attempt to paint a narrative, here, using misquoted facts as a means to do so. In this case, to make it look to its readers that, in all factuality, most Africans were free in 1860 (4 million out of 4.5 million). Even cites census records.

But we know that those numbers are inaccurate. Information from the American GIS in 1860 can be found on *this* civil war site, reprinted:

As you can see, all the numbers on both previous sites were delicately flubbed, and used as needed and where needed for the narrative they needed at the time.

And if you just do a quick search for terms like “negro slave owners” and “how many blacks owned slaves”, you’ll find a plethora of sites like these, all quoting each other, and pretending to come from source material. Not to mention that over half of the source material is actually coming from the *same* biased sources. Not a deal breaker, but slightly problematic. It’s just a big echo chamber at some point, you know?

And the problem is, it’s not really your fault. You’re just quoting something that went above and beyond to convince you of its authority. The problem is, honestly, the people that wrote it. They knew better. Maybe a few thought flubbing a thing here and there wouldn’t hurt anyone. But they’re wrong; it perpetuates the same ideas and gets in the way of any healing that needs to take place, there. And it’s super irresponsible. In my opinion, they knew what they were doing, though. It’s a very intentional thing to do, took a lot of work to do it. They were just advancing a narrative they wanted to be true; and if they can convince *you* of it, maybe it *will* be true. I guess.

As for the idea that this is “hidden” history everyone’s afraid to speak about? Not *entirely* true. Maybe some stupid kid with his fist in the air may doesn’t know it, but plenty of brown academics have spent time with the issue. Here’s an article, based on *actual, verifiable numbers and real quotes from real sources* … no distortions that I can find, that candidly discusses this material, aimed at (get this) brown readers:

It covers a lot of this, and again, I’ve read most of those sources already, and haven’t spotted a misquote. I can also value its attempt at educating brown readers about this phenomenon in general. It’s an honest article, and again, quotable, as there are no notable distortions that I can find.

Obviously, not all European Americans owned slaves. I’m sorry for any idiots out there that have tried to say any differently to you, there. But it’s not about that. It’s about having some compassion, and recognizing what something like that can do to a population, for generations. That’s really all. Eventually, it’ll get itself worked out, and we’ll just be one big, happy, collective race again. All of us. Hopefully. Probably.

Dean Logan

Again, your point has nothing to do with the problem that I have with the author. The author of this article is saying “ALL” white people are raised racist. He repeats this more than once.

If everyone was a racist, then no Civil War would have been fought nor Civil Rights laws created in the 1800s and again in the 1900s, because everyone would have been raised to believe that some people are inferior to other people based on race. This is not the case.

My point about not all slaves were black or slave owners were white was to point out that people think of others of inferior or lower class for reason beyond the color of their skin.

Thanks for going through the trouble for pointing out inaccuracies to information on the web, I am sure if people read that, they will appreciate the accuracy. However, I think you are missing my point.

RageAgainstTheMachines

Seems more as though the writer themselves is racist and simply wishes to drag the rest of us down to make them feel better about their racism.

“I still locked car doors when black people walked by”

thenamelessone123

i lock my car doors when people walk by, because i live in the city, where there is a high crime rate, is that suddenly a bad thing to be safe before sorry?

Ardea

I disagree.

But I’ll take a “If you say so,” stance.

Rafael Castro-Torres

Racism will end when the lines are blurred. When we stop calling each other by what our tone or looks are instead of by what we ARE. Person, people, woman, man, child.

Racism is so dumb and ignorant when you think about it.

I am a man who lives in Puerto Rico. I’m not hispanic, or latino…I am Puertorican, as a Texan is Texan and a Newyorker is Newyorker. That is not my race.

My race is human. What is yours?

thenamelessone123

Human from Kansas, that was my thought as well, this whole thing is just a new divide that we have to move past, not that we have to deal with something, we have to move to the idea that everybody is of one race

luxpax

Until you realize who your people are, all opinions and recitations of alleged fact are nothing but noise. Serve your people.

singingsoprano

And who is my neighbor? (Jesus answered that one)

Ian

You have too much free time.

more_bs

Its good to proud of your culture or origin, but to make other people’s lives miserable is bullshit

more_bs

If you think you are a superior race, then you should use your so called superiority to advance civillization and make this world a better place for everyone instead of going around harassing people and making innocent minorities lives miserable just because they are minority. Don’t claim to be a god and do the work of the devil!

thenamelessone123

so clearly you think that you are somehow different and better then the people of other races, or you wouldnt hesitate to speak up for them, because you would speak to everybody about everybody, because you would see them as human beings before you see them as a race of people separate and under you, something that you cant possibly understand because they are to you more foreign then Mars, to you they may as well not be the same species as you, and then you go so far as to think that everyone with the same skin color as you must think exactly like you, and clearly if its wrong for you think this its wrong for them, but most of us dont think like you

thenamelessone123

this article has a problem from the very beginning, so every white person raised in America is a racist, so where do we go from here, and i dont mean how do we cure ourselves of it, if he are already and always on the moral low ground why should any of us care about getting to the moral high ground, why should we care about being racist? like dont do it to a minority persons face because they are likely to be violent, but past that why do we care?

Steven Neal Wagner

Since you seem to know all the white people, please say “hi” to my Aunt Judy next time you see her.

Steven Neal Wagner

If you are going to write something (like this clickbait crap) to try and draw attention to yourself, perhaps you should write something that could genuinely help someone.

sunshipballoons

I don’t necessarily disagree with all of this article, but let me describe how my white family was involved in Jim Crow: They were the victims of it. My white, Jewish family was only allowed to live in certain neighborhoods. Perhaps they were perpetrators in other contexts–not that I’m aware of, but I agree that I might not know about that–but we were definitely victims, too. Merely making this point does not make me racist. It is true that segregation was not just to exclude black people.

There are other things in here that I do agree with, such as: “So, yes. All white people raised in America are instilled with this idea that we are the default, we are the go-to, we are the norm. That, my friends, is upholding white supremacy. Every time we say “I don’t see race”, we are contributing to white supremacy, as well as willful blindness to racism.” But that doesn’t make me racist if I point out that the *exact kind of discrimination you are describing* affected my white family or that saying my family never owned slaves (which I know we didn’t because we didn’t come here until the 1880s) is itself a racist comment. My history is not part of U.S. slavery.

This statement, in a paragraph about Jim Crow, is completely ridiculous and demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of when things happened in U.S. history: “It follows that your family believed that the laws of the time, stating that black people were 3/5ths human, were all right, fine and dandy.” Considering that Jim Crow describes the era that began after the end of the civil war and the passage of the 13th and 14th amendment, there was no law stating that black people were 3/5ths human at that time. (The law never actually said that, either, but we all get the point.)

TwilightSparkle

I stand up to supremacist filth every day on the web. It’s the least I can do having benefitted so much from growing up white in the Midwest.

Please help me bully white supremacy hate narratives off the web. Kids get enough of this dreck from their racist parents. There’s no need for them to read it in comment sections as legitimate political discourse, too.

Patrick

Racism is a thing we all have to contend with within our own culture as white folks (and that includes in the personal sense). Speaking as a Canadian and what they call a “red diaper baby”, I can assure you that the white experience in North America is more varied than the author, or indeed many readers, might imagine.. Still doesn’t mean I’m not equally capable of being racist, just means my experience is different. Speaking as a 2nd generation immigrant from the British Isles that grew up in the UK, I can assure you that the white experience outside America varies even more greatly..
Understanding each other requires that we do not remove each others’ “agency” (our ability to think and act on our own behalf). Racism is a global thing, but the history of that racism is different in different places. And, as this article points out, history is a very big determiner of culture. I spent my late teens and early 20s in an area of London where people often spoke what is now called “London Multicultural English” – an adaptation of what North Americans would perceive as “Cockney” and West Indian patois. I have literally no idea how people ended up speaking like that.. but I do know enough about how human society works to know that working class native people, oppressed for so long that speak differently and working class, post WWII immigrants living along side each other in the same housing projects are going to interact on terms that do not fit neatly into a North American perspective of race..

Courtney Dowe

You may be the single most courageous thinker in America. Wow. Bravo.

I’m a 40 year old woman of African descent and the day that I accepted my own white supremacist thinking was the first day that I started really overcoming it. I lost some of the closest people in my life because of disagreement on this subject. It has been a long road, but you give me hope.

The logic in this article is the same reason alcoholics that are in recovery never say that they are cured, they say that they are in recovery or not. The moment one assumes to be beyond a problem is the moment that they are most vulnerable to it.

To those who are offended by this article, relax. If you were raised in White America, you are a racist or a racist in recovery, you may not like it, but those are your options, and it’s ok, you can face this, you can do the internal work that all of the previous generations avoided…just take it one day at a time.

Micah

What if you’re raised in a Jewish minority family that moved over after the end of slavery? Many white people in this country are descendant from more recent immigrants. I only really grew up around other Jewish people and then black people at my school. I’ve never spent time around people with the superiority complex slave master mentality. I think there are many people like this.

GoonSquadTactics

Many Africans were sold into slavery by other black Africans. In America, there were more than a few free black people who owned slaves. All this BLM/Safespace-language nonsense is coming from disaffected malcontents that are too lazy to take advantage of the opportunities White abolishionists fought so hard to get for them. And I haven’t even begun to begin talking about the hatred and animosity dark-skinned negroes harbor toward lighter-skinned ones.

Ellen

I know my white Quaker family worked on the underground railroad and also that other parts of my family owned slaves. I am aware enough to watch myself for signs of racism and privilege that, although I was raised Quaker, there’s still a lot of that. However, I don’t think throwing terms around like “racist” is all that helpful unless you’re wanting to be inflammatory and get more clicks. I would rather communicate as much as possible with real feelings and needs so that we can all connect better and get on the same page. ie: how do you feel when you find yourself thinking some racist thoughts? I feel ashamed of myself and try and look at it so I can be a better person. I also have judgements about other women, other cultures, body styles, etc. Everyone does. I don’t see why it’s helpful to think “all white people are racist”. It’s just another wall that makes people feel ashamed and defensive.

Ryan

Seems kind of like saying all Muslims are terrorists because of what a few have done… however I’m sure the writer would never make such a politically incorrect statement…
Folks like the writer are full of more hate and prejudice than the most hardcover of “KKK”member in the sense that they are focused on an enemy in the name of race…. part of the problem NOT the solution….

Mark Walker

I’m black. This is silly. Really. Maybe the writer realized that he was racist. Cudos! The blanket statement is a very silly way to lump every one into his boat. Feeling different about another person’s skin is not being racist. If you don’t have any black friends or know any black people and feel funny about black people you are normal. Same for blacks. If you meet someone that has different skin and try to understand them and love them then you are not racist. But on turn if you meet a different skinned person and refuse to try and understand them and love them for who they are then you are racist. But simply being white in American doesn’t make you racist. That is pure dumbness! Relax white people. Don’t let Stephanie scare you. She has issues. Meet some blacks and love them. They will love you too.

Alice Bayly

I love this response 🙂

carmen corn

When we can have conversations, without blame, only then can we forgive and move on. The bleaching cream for blacks is no different from the tanning booths for whites! Here’s a reality for all Americans to look at: If we don’t get our $hit together with this stupid @$$ racism, “Cancer” will whoop our @$$!!! Now that’s what we should be fighting together!! “Cancer” shows “no racism”!!! Food for thought, people…

“Furthermore, because of this heavy indoctrination, it is never going to be over. We will have to continue to check ourselves everyday, with every word we speak and every thing we expose our children to, to ensure we are not continuing this saga anymore.”

“it is never going to be over” vs. “ensure we are not continuing”

Chad Walker

You are the biggest problem with racism in America. Not only, Not holding individuals accountable for their own actions. But suggesting that all Whites are racist?? I would put large sums of money on you coming from a well to do, 90%white community, and have zero insight on how a lower income “hood” black community functions. Or rather, doesn’t function. It most certainly isn’t my struggling, broke, hard working, honest, and law abiding fault. You my dear are the racist. And your senseless rhetoric is the leading cause for this sense of intense victimisation that keeps a large portion of the black community pointing fingers, and holding their hand out, instead of taking responsibility for their own life and actions. We live in a time of ultimate free will. FREE. ALL OF US. Make your path great, or lay down and play victim. I didn’t, nor did the white community as a whole in general, make your life shit if it is. You have squandered your opportunities and brought your own peril upon yourself if that is your reality. No special treatment. White, black, brown, yellow, red, or any combination of. We have the freedom and power to make ourselves what we desire to be. Go make yourself great, stop pointing blame, and STFU.

David Chaparro

(((Stephanie Monk)))

Patrick Richardson

Oh dear god, in your whole 27 years of life you’re able to see how the entire world works.

This is called “hubris” come back and talk to me in about 20 years. Then if you STILL think you know how the world works, I’ll tell you to see me in another 20.

Ed

If someone doesn’t think they are a racist, it doesn’t automatically follow that they think racism doesn’t exsist. If they think racism doesn’t exsist first, and then say they aren’t a racist, that’s one thing. But there are plenty of white people who aren’t personally racist, but are very well aware it exists.

Your attempts to generalize all white people into one singular classification as racists, while at the same time decrying individualism, while at the same time saying that you personally are more enlightened is self contradiction of the highest order. You are saying that “I’m an exceptional white person because I alone have realized that we’re all racist, and people who value themselves as individuals are stupid because I said so because I woke up and they haven’t.” I hope you can see how absurd you sound. Your fake white guilt does you no credit. You come here as a white person to an African American website to tell them how they should view white people. You are no better than the people you are decying in your post. Viewing people as individuals who have merit and value simply because they are individuals in the only real way to combat racism. Not the nonsense you’re talking about; shaming the whole of white America into some sort of submission.

We should be raising African Americans up as a society, but we don’t have to do it by bringing white people down.

squareaware

I don’t believe the author was aiming t bring down, nor discredit white people. I think the author is more so relaying the message to you all that admitting it is the first step to fixing the problem. This individual knows what is said at the dinner tables, they’ve been the oppressor, admitting to making inappropriate joke. And they are taking personal accountability, which needs to occur within the white community more often. The inability for any one to convince you that racism is still a huge issue, even as they are experiencing it, or were the purveyor of it, is incredible. You cannot expect to keep protecting racism, and privilege solely for white people and not expect for you to be constantly blamed. What do you think about what I’ve said?

Mr. Sister

“All people raised like me are Racist”

Fixed the title for ya

Der Mensch

Anyone that believes this is a racist. The author is a racist. People are NOT born with a predisposition to racisim, it’s learned. And the majority of racism these days is coming from black Americans. That’s where you’re hearing things like “kill all white people”. I can’t recall ever hearing anything like that from any other race in my lifetime. Black Americans need to take a closer look at where their hate is coming from. And I can say with 100% certainty that I am not racist. When I see other races I see a man or a woman, I do not see color and I do not prejudge. So moronic articles like this only serve to promote racisim and hate.

Blanched421

So many of these comments make the authors point, almost better than the article in fact, I can almost reach out and touch all the projecting. People if you expanded your definition of racism you might begin to see and understand what’s being said.
First to anyone who thinks that the present is separable from our past (i.e. I didn’t own slaves, it was centuries ago, so what does it have to do with today) you are either incredibly naive or deliberately trying to ignore the nastier parts of our society and individually our knowledge/psyche. Its especially telling when the same people in other more comfortable historical spaces will admit to historical connections to the present like differences in culture or religion. Like would you disagree that our culture accepts the legality and overall safety of alcohol consumption while demonizing marijuana due to historical precedents? Or due to the persecution of specific denominations in Europe the colonies and eventually America was founded on certain “truths” and beliefs which are still with us today. This doesn’t mean that its the same today, america is incredibly complex, just that history obviously influences the present and the closer the history the more direct the influence.
Anyways the word racism isn’t monolithic. Different people experience and commit racism in incredibly varied manners. It is way more involved and complicated than just atrocious language, violence and easily defined discrimination. Furthermore due to the systemically racist underpinnings of our society, especially in my opinion our economy and justice system, white people are complicit in their actions, subtle and obvious, to the continued existence of white supremacy. When we vote for a politician who supports policies which adversely affect people of color we are actively participating in a racist system. When we purchase goods produced by corporations who do all sorts of horrid things to people of color in far off lands (and in many cases not so far off), this includes products made with prison laber, we again are participating in this system. Now before you respond about non white people also voting for those politicians and purchasing those goods remember if we are living in a white majority and dominated society than we are inherently to blame for those being the options and as such have a greater responsibility to confront our creation, demand change and inclusion and broaden the discussions being held in the white community.
We live in a time of incredible access. Access to knowledge and immense resources like the internet. Access to practically every culture and experience under the sun. All we need to do is listen. Listen with an open mind and with empathy. If we did this I think we’d begin to see the drastic difference in experience between different identities. Remember I’m just commenting on race. Everything I’ve said could also describe the experiences of women, the lgbtq community, and basically anyone who isn’t a wealthy white cis straight male. There is a reason those words exist and it isn’t to annoy someone who’s tired of political correctness, it’s to put a name to the different experiences one has based upon how they look and act and the resulting interactions they have with society. I personally don’t think identity politics are an end all solution, as an anti capitalist I can sometimes get frustrated at stagnant organizing and conversation as a large group of incredibly different people wade through whose more privileged than who, thankfully that is an uncommon problem and overall these “labels” contribute positively to the understanding of power and how it affects everyone.
Racism is alive and well and every white person in America has a played a part in it. This doesn’t necessarily mean youre a horrible person or some crazed Nazi but it does mean that maybe you should take a step back, listen to other people and their experiences and then try to find ways to stand up to and subvert systemic racism, educate other white people, and contribute to positive change. White people arnt under attack, there will always be white people, its just that we are finally having to confront head on our brutally racist past and if we want a positive future unlearn these deep rooted fears and tendencies, offer reparations and assistance that is wanted/asked for and accept that there’s a seat for everyone at the table.

Cera Olney

You’re an idiot.

no, really

what a stupid argument. some whites are racist, some aren’t. some are friends and allies of blacks and other oppressed people, some are racist in varying degrees. but nothing is so black and white and absolute to warrant a statement like this. stephanie monk, you come off like a dumbass and don’t help the cause at all, you just provide an easy target for opponents of progress with reductionist arguents like this, because it so easy to ridicule and make fun of, because its so stupid. please stop. it doesn’t help anybody.

Steve

Okay. As a white person who lived in the deep south and routinely got into fights with junior KKK and neo-nazi shitbags, often to break up 3- and 4-on-1 beatdowns on black people I didn’t even know: go fuck yourself.

Joel Knowl

Black people didn’t rise up and topple the majority. White people fought alongside them, against other white people, often against their own elders or parents, to get black people equal rights. People woke up and saw the injustice for what it was. Just like straight people fought for gay people’s rights more recently. You dare to call the new generation racist, now? The generation alive today is mostly people who agree with *or actually fought for* the abolition of Jim Crow laws!

You’re turning around and smacking the people who fought for equality, for daring to be part of the race that long ago benefitted from racism, even though their personal beliefs and actions completely negate and oppose those of their ancestors. You want to punish people for the actions of their ancestors. That’s abhorrent. You’re disgusting. You are the only racist here. And yeah, it’s possible to be racist against white people. Tell yourself “it’s all about power, you can’t be racist against white people” some more, so you can make more generalizations about everyone with white skin. Totally not racism if people with the skin color you generalize traditionally had more power. What kind of bullshit rationalization is that? That’s like saying white people could degrade black people if the tables ever flipped.

It’s all racism when you generalize or demean individuals of any race, and it’s never okay. Doesn’t matter if black people were the majority today, with all the power, it would still be wrong for a white person to generalize everyone with black skin. And it’s just as much racism today when you generalize everyone with white skin. Do you think Obama got elected because we’re all a bunch of racist horrible people keeping black people down? Obviously not. Obama was elected because he was the best person for the job, and American of all colors, genders, and creeds were able to see that. Race didn’t matter to the majority in 2008, and it doesn’t matter to them now.

You make me sick. Everything you say here, it is all wrong. How can you not see it? You’re so sure of yourself, it’s like talking to the racists of the past all over again. Just because the skin colors have flipped and the justifications are different, doesn’t make you any different. You’re one Hitler away from putting white people in camps. Acting like one race is the root of all evil is never okay.

think4yourself

“ALL”white people are racist? I think you mean “prejudice”. Which that very statement is prejudice itself. The elites see no color, only class. They pit us against one another and we fight over the propaganda. All races have done terrible shit. Hell, in Nigeria, slavery is still legal. We need to start having productive conversations about true racism and prejudices that are a problem in the world today. If we continue to convert to tribalism and segregation, we are only enabling our own enslavement as a people. Divide and conquer has been the most essential weapon against the masses throughout history. We all need to be self accountable for all of our transgressions. We need to learn to love and not hate.

Procras108r85

We ran around calling them “colored”. Yea, so? There’s nothing insulting about the term. Or do you not know what the ‘C’ in NAACP stands for?

White people are considered the “default” in America. *Gasp*!! By God, who would’ve ever thought that the group with the largest population in a country is considered the default?!?! How terrible!! I certainly hope that the Asians in S Korea aren’t considered the default race because they have groups of whites or blacks that also live there, or the Arabs in UAE considered the default there bc they may have other races who live amongst them. This is normal, dumbass!!

This white racism myth is just that…a myth.

Maggie Scheck Geene

My ancestors (both sides of the family) immigrated from Europe ( France, Germany and Ireland to be precise) just before the turn of the century ( 1889 – 1996).

None of them participated in “Jim Crow” activities, because they were too busy holding down two and three jobs to get ahead in their new homeland. And no KKK either, because they were Catholic, another group hated just as much by the Klan.

How dare you assume that all white people are ancestrally connected to racist activity.

Shaharyar Rehan

The same way you subconsciously assume your superiority over other racse through subjugating them and classifying yourselves as the default/norm. And by associating muslims with terrorists, hispanics with rapists/drug dealers, blacks with heat packing thugs, and for allowing a moron as ridiculous as trump to get this far in his candidacy. Peace

Tyrone Shoelaces

Let me see if I get this right. I have to actually tell myself that i am a racist and own my racism, even though I don’t feel that way at all.I am a racist because I recognize your blackness, is that accurate?

OK then, I’ll just treat you like any MF’er in the room. Let’s drop Affirmative action, because recognizing your blackness is perpetuating Racism and I don’t think we should do that. You can work hard like everyone else and get into college based on merit and a test, as opposed to getting the advantage your melanin provides.

Then, let’s get rid of quota’s, both real and perceived, in government jobs and union gigs. You can earn your way onto the payroll with an education, a job history and a good work ethic. then you can get a loan for a house and a car just like I had to…

Finally, lets get rid of Black Studies in college, Black History Month, BET, the NAACP, black Frats, the African American Diaspora museum in DC that just opened – because, you asshat, if i am to be told how to remember my history by you, you should have to listen to me about yours.

Black people have spent so much time working the ‘White Guilt’ angle that if you had to work as hard as whites do, you would freaking fail.

Everyone was doing a pretty good job of getting along before Obama started to really divide us. maybe if you spent a few minutes thinking about how you can reach across this perceived divide as an equal (and yeah dummy, you might have to earn it) – we would all be in a better place.

Justin

Honest you SJWs are so F’n pathetic. I’m not responsible for anything that happened before I was born, my ancestors don’t make me anything. Read some alternative history to the drivel that’s being taught in most Uni’s today. You might find out that you have been tricked. The Oldest Trick in the book, or one of the best, is divide and conquer. The Crap you are spouting is psychological warfare intended to keep blacks and whites from understanding their common enemy which is international bankers and their lackeys, who really run the governments of the world.
Unpacking your brainwashing is the first step to really being “awake”, as you put it. The Real title of the article should be “everyone in America is brainwashed, it’s just a matter of degrees.

Sean

Wow…it’s hard to believe that this mentality became the standard narrative of the left. It’s hypocritical, a double standard, and frankly…embarrassing. I’m a white guy, and I don’t need to apologize for that. No…I wasn’t raised racist…nor was I raised to ignore color. I was raised to give respect to everyone and treat them fairly regardless of race of culture. This writer wants his audience to believe that whites are some monolithic cultural experience and we all had the same upbringing as him…we didn’t.

There’s lots of bullsquat that’s pervasive in this article…but I’d like to point out one of the dumbest parts of this narrative. It’s the idea that we, as whites, are somehow guilty of the behavior of other whites before this. Please don’t believe this disgustingly racist lie. We believe in innocent until proven guilty…not that someone is guilty “by default” because of their race. If a man (any race) lost a father…and found out after his death that his father was guilty of robbing a bank back when he was twenty…would we hold that man accountable for what his father stole? Of course not…that isn’t justice, it’s petty revenge. So in the same line of logic, I’m not guilty of what some racist white guy did in the past either. This nation has made great strides towards equality…not just in the law but also in the views of the average white person. Whites are overwhelmingly willing to live next to other races, marry other races, work with other races, and even elect other races in every office at every level of government. If we were all white supremacists bent on maintaining our supremacy…that wouldn’t be the case. Whites aren’t all racist…heck, the vast majority of us aren’t racist. To generalize us all…on the basis of nothing but our skin…is racist.

So congratulations to the author for being racist…maybe not the racist he was before, but another equally disgusting kind of racist nonetheless.

dante

“Communism & Marxism is to racism as cash money is to Capitalism… The ONE cannot exist without the OTHER. The entire system collapses when it is shown to be a mere worldview existing on blind faith only.”

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